With online harassment cases on the rise, you must learn how to know if someone is stalking your Instagram. Let’s take you through four effective ways to identify who stalks your Instagram account.
If you’re an active Instagram user, your profile is probably up to date with the details of your whereabouts, your workplace, who your close entourage is and even those REALLY mushy pictures with your beau. Naturally, in a space so personal, you wouldn’t like any unwanted guests. In most cases, following someone’s Instagram activities is harmless. However, what happens when someone develops an overzealous curiosity towards you and stalks every move of yours? Scary right?
Here’s why stalking on Instagram can be dangerous
While many of you might discard a stalker, thinking they’re harmless pranksters or hooligans with ample time at hand. But let’s face it, online stalkers shouldn’t be underestimated. Here are some of the main reasons why:
- Invading privacy: Instagram is a place where many people share the nitty-gritty of their lives. From where they’re chilling with their friends on the weekend to which cafe they usually head to post their work. When this information gets into the hands of a stalker, they can gather very specific information like location tags or background details and track you down in real life.
- Stealing identity: After getting hold of your photos and personal information, it’s so easy to create a fake account. Stalkers often use such fake IDs for manipulation, fraud, or other malicious activities under your name.
- Harassment: Obsessively commenting, liking your photos, sending malicious links or inappropriate messages or attempting to contact your friends or family members are just some of the frightening activities stalkers are capable of.
So, how do you check who stalks your Instagram account? Let’s find out
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Four ways to check who stalks your Instagram account
Profile interactions
The easiest way is to look at your Instagram profile interactions. Simply click on the heart icon on the top right of your Instagram feed, and you’ll find the list of users who recently liked, commented on your post or followed you. There are two major hints you should look out for. First, a fishy profile (without any profile picture or bio) bombarding you with adoration. A user who likes and comments on each and every story, post, reel and keeps sending you random ‘hey’s’ in the message requests.
The second type of users to look out for are those who don’t follow you, but still like your posts/ stories. Since your posts don’t appear in their feed, they are specially checking your account at regular intervals for any updates.
Story views
Unrecognised profiles in your story views can be potential stalkers. Instagram allows users to see who views their stories for up to 24 hours, displaying all the profiles when you select the list of viewers at the bottom left. For those of you who don’t know, Instagram prioritises showing your stories to the most relevant users whom you interact with often. If you open a story shortly after posting it, you’ll be shown the viewers list in chronological order.
However, as time passes by, the rank algorithm changes. Now, individuals who engage with your stories and posts the most are likely ot be placed at the top of the list, while others are pushed down. Spot any unknown users among your top viewers? This might be your cue.
Checking followers
It’s good to check who follows you from time to time, especially if you have a public profile. There can be dubious profiles with strange usernames that are most likely to be stalkers. We recommend you delete all such accounts you don’t recognise or even remove known people you’re just not interested in interacting with anymore.
Third-party apps
If the aforementioned ways fail, use a third-party app to find your Instagram stalker. There are so many apps including Visitors Pro (for iPhone) or InStalker and Follower Reports (for Android) that claim to show you the users who follow and unfollow you, those who never or always like your posts, and those who have blocked you. They also promise to show you who viewed your Instagram profile by analysing your account.
Remember to always report and block any suspicious Instagram accounts!
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(Hero image credit: Andrea Piacquadio/ Pexels)
(Feature image credit: Elijah O’Donnell/ Pexels)
This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Can I see who stalks my Instagram?
No, Instagram doesn’t have a feature that lets you see who views your profile or your posts. However, there are some ways like checking your profile interactions and story views that help you find any suspicious account in your profile.
- Can I see who viewed my Instagram profile?
While Instagram doesn’t allow you to see who views your profile, some third-party apps claim to show you all such users who are stalking your Instagram account.
- Is Instagram stalking illegal?
In many countries, cyberstalking is a punishable offence.
- What happens if you stalk someone on Instagram?
Instagram doesn’t notify users that someone is tracking their profile.
